Tuesday, May 20, 2014

I was working to protect regular
folk from wretched policies being foisted upon my beloved Missouri by über-conservatives and their in-state minions.

Blink.

No, really.

Anyhoo, I’m back.

Shall we?

Shark-Fu’s quick review of a few of the horrible proposals
passed this session…

#1 The failure to pass Medicaid Expansion…and why there’s a
special place in hell for people who support taking a dumb ass stand…

The Missouri legislature failed to pass Medicaid
expansion…again.

Because…um…freedom?

Yep, apparently the “brave” wanna-be patriots who killed Medicaid
expansion this time are dedicated to defending the right to die from lack of
access to health care.

Hundreds of people will die due to lack of access to
healthcare…access that the legislature had the opportunity to extend and chose
not to because they hate Obama more than they love their fellow Missourians.

This shit would be amusing…if we weren’t two years in on a
life and death situation.

The fight continues...

#2 Tis like watching a 10-vehicle car wreck in super slow
motion…all the while knowing that the very people elected to prevent shit
triggered the “accident” like this…

In a move that Missouri will likely suffer from for years,
if not decades, to come…wince…the Missouri legislature passed a massive tax cut
that will benefit rich folk while leaving average Missourians with a
devastating financial crisis.

One need only look west to Kansas for proof that politicians
can make all kinds of promises…but tis reality that comes knocking on the door
when bad proposals become law.

I’m particularly concerned with the ripple effect of this
mess. The immediate impact will be to schools…but pretty soon Missouri’s lack
of income will hit programs that my autistic brother depends on.

Heck, we haven’t seen an increase in SNAPS funding in a
decade…he qualifies for several really cool programs but transportation for
stuff like that hasn’t been funded for years, so…

And now they’re taking more money out of an already
underfunded system, and…I just can't bring myself to imagine what's left to cut. I know I'll have to soon. We've only got two years to plan for this mess, but...damn it.

Let's continue...

#3 The same folk who sleep well having denied thousands of
Missourians access to heath care costing hundreds of lives in the name of less
government, also decided to shove government all up in people’s lives by
tripling the mandatory waiting period for abortion…

I had the honor of leading the communications crew for the
Women’s Filibuster in Jefferson City last week. It was a truly amazing
experience, seeing my fellow Missourians stand up and speak truth to power…and
we all drew strength from the support we received from all over the world.

The legislature passed a bill that triples the mandatory
waiting period for abortion care in Missouri.So, we stood at the Capitol and conducted a citizen’s filibuster for 72
hours…from Monday at 2pm until Thursday at 2pm.